Charles gulped down fearfully and shook his head in reply. Chloe didn’t notice what just happened and held Ethan’s arm as she laughed curtly, “Don’t be like that, Ethan. Mr. Wilkins was just asking a question. Charles hurriedly waved her aside apologetically, “Forgive me, Mrs. Black, I didn’t stop to think how unreasonable my question was. I should’ve listened to my folks and gotten married years ago.”He said the last sentence in a mumble, but Chris and Penelope heard him loud and clear. Claire had found their seat and waited for them to return for several minutes, when she didn’t see them, she got up to look for them. “Chloe, why are you still standing? The competition will be starting soon!” Claire half-shouted when she found them and began hurrying over to where they were standing. She failed to notice the man standing in front of her until after a few seconds. “Charles Wilkins!” She almost screamed, but quickly clamped her mouth shut with her palms when she recalled where
“B-bully? Did you just call me a bully?” The boy was stunned for a moment that he couldn’t help but stutter in disbelief. Seeing this, Honey’s body reacted. She bent over and crept out from under him before sprinting out of the restroom.However, she bumped into someone. A memory flashed past her eyes and the hairs on the back of her neck stood erect on its end in fear recalling what happened the last time she bumped into someone. She gulped down and hurriedly stepped backward in fear. “Honey? You took so long. I thought something had happened and was coming to check up on you.” Honey heard the familiar voice and her racing heart gradually slowed down before she raised her eyes to look at the person. When she saw the familiar face, she beamed happily, “Aunty Claire?” A pang of guilt hit Claire when she saw the initial fear on Honey’s face. Clearly, bumping into her had brought back memories from the day at the supermarket. She was silent for a moment before she bent over and pu
Honey was stunned by the accusation. When she looked up and saw the boy’s father glowering hard at her, she shuddered and turned to Chloe in fear. Chloe frowned and held her tightly to herself before raising her eyes to look at the little boy. When the boy saw the doubt in Chloe’s eyes, he turned to his father and pointed at his right cheek which had a red, handprint on it. “You don’t believe me? Look at my cheek, daddy She even hit me!” His father, who didn’t doubt him for a second at first, was even more enraged when he saw the hand print on his son’s face. He hadn’t seen it at first, but he didn’t hesitate to look for the girl who bullied his son after his son came up to tell him he was bullied in the restroom by a girl. He placed a hand akimbo on his waist and pointed an annoyed finger at Chloe. “What are you still waiting for? Hand your daughter to me so I can teach her a lesson for being a bully!” Chloe didn’t respond to him. Instead, she lowered her eyes to Honey who h
Luke Marshall’s face paled immediately in fright. Before he could say anything to defend himself, the parents around took it up and began whispering to themselves in disbelief. “What did she say? Such a thing happened?” “If a waitress in the hotel really says so, then I bet it’s true.” “What are you two talking about?” “Luke Marshall tried to force himself on a waitress in Pearl Hotel and got blacklisted from the hotel because of it.” “I bet he pleaded guilty in a closed court and agreed to settle, so the hotel wouldn’t leak the news to the public.” “That might actually be true. I heard of this back then. But I didn’t think it was true since the chairman of Pearl Hotel said nothing about it. So it’s really true?” “Obviously. To think I held him in such high esteem before this.” “My daughter is close with his children and I sometimes let her go over to his place to play with them. Someone who does such a thing is likely to do so to children too, right?” “Now that I think of it
“What did you do? How did you do it?” Luke Marshall sputtered when he finally found his tongue. “You didn’t answer my question, Mr. Marshall. Are you a woman beater? Do you beat your wife at home? Is that why she hasn’t said anything about you cheating on her?” Chloe ignored his question and asked instead. The man pointed a finger at her in agitation and said through clenched teeth, “What nonsense are you spouting? I’ve told you not to say anything you’re not sure of. Every word you say could put my reputation in jeopardy!” Chloe narrowed her eyes in confusion “What are you talking about? When did a question become putting your reputation in jeopardy?” Luke parted his lips to say something, but clamped it shut when he realized she was right. After some seconds of being speechless, he whipped out his phone in irritation. “I’m done speaking with a lowly person like you. I will call Levi Cruz and have him fire you.” “Just give me your name. No, keep it. I’ll describe what you look
There was a pin-drop silence in the auditorium as Chloe’s voice echoed through. Luke and the other parents stared at her in confusion. With his eyes pinned on her in disbelief, he took the phone to his mouth and stuttered into it, “A-are you Levi Cruz’s assistant?” Chloe didn’t say anything for several seconds before she said, “Yes.”This time, there was no doubt about it. “You’re Mr. Cruz’s assistant?” A parent stepped forward to ask. “If she’s Levi Cruz’s assistant, doesn’t that mean she wasn’t lying about Luke Marshall forcing himself on that waitress.” “Before we rush into condemning him again, shouldn’t the assistant of Mr. Cruz have a list of blacklisted customers?” “Yes, show it to us so we may believe you are really her and my husband doesn’t have a wrong number.” Chloe didn’t want the situation to drag on longer than it already has, so she just nodded and began tapping away on the screen of her phone. After a whole minute, she beckoned onto the person operating the s
At this point, Luke couldn’t deny it anymore. So as soon as the recording ended, he slowly began retreating backward. However, someone pulled him back by his collar. “What are you doing? Let go of me this instant!” He turned his head to see it was Charles and lashed out at him immediately. “Principal Hutchinson, have you called the police?” Charles ignored him and asked Jordy Hutchinson. Jordy Hutchinson, who was on the call already, nodded and dropped his phone. Almost immediately, the school’s security rushed into the auditorium. As he was dragged away by then, he yelled at Chloe with all his might, “No! I’ll be suing! Pearl Hotel made a deal with me not to leak this to the media, you just breached that agreement so get ready for a lawsuit because I won’t stop until I milk your hotel dry!” Chloe smiled faintly, “No, Mr. Marshall. The person you made a deal with was Mr. Cruz’s former assistant. Mr. Cruz never would’ve taken the deal.” “If you want the agreement you signed back
Pearl Hotel Matilda kept her eyes on the two strangers and Charles who surprisingly joined them to eat thirty minutes ago. Chloe was occupied with feeding Honey, she didn’t remember to introduce Chris and Penelope to her. Ethan remembered, but didn’t want to. Claire was simply too preoccupied with Charles eating at the same table as her family to see the curiousity in her mother’s eyes. At the same time, she couldn’t help, but wonder if Matilda was really right. Charles had no reason to eat with them except he wanted to build a relationship with her family before they got married. Matilda couldn’t hold in her curiosity any longer. She dropped her cutlery noisily, catching everyone’s attention before she asked Charles pointedly, “Mr. Wilkins, have you finally come to ask for Claire’s hand officially?” Charles, who was gulping down a glass of wine, choked on it immediately. Penelope and Chris lowered their face to hide the smile tugging the corners of their lips. “M-mother, stop